diff --git a/faiss/CMakeLists.txt b/faiss/CMakeLists.txt
index 27701586c8..af682a056d 100644
--- a/faiss/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/faiss/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -162,6 +162,8 @@ set(FAISS_HEADERS
   impl/ProductQuantizer.h
   impl/Quantizer.h
   impl/ResidualQuantizer.h
+  impl/ResultCollector.h
+  impl/ResultCollectorFactory.h
   impl/ResultHandler.h
   impl/ScalarQuantizer.h
   impl/ThreadedIndex-inl.h
diff --git a/faiss/Index.h b/faiss/Index.h
index 4b4b302b47..13eab0c077 100644
--- a/faiss/Index.h
+++ b/faiss/Index.h
@@ -38,11 +38,12 @@
 
 namespace faiss {
 
-/// Forward declarations see impl/AuxIndexStructures.h, impl/IDSelector.h and
-/// impl/DistanceComputer.h
+/// Forward declarations see impl/AuxIndexStructures.h, impl/IDSelector.h,
+/// impl/DistanceComputer.h, and impl/ResultCollectorFactory.h
 struct IDSelector;
 struct RangeSearchResult;
 struct DistanceComputer;
+struct ResultCollectorFactory;
 
 /** Parent class for the optional search paramenters.
  *
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@ struct DistanceComputer;
 struct SearchParameters {
     /// if non-null, only these IDs will be considered during search.
     IDSelector* sel = nullptr;
+    ResultCollectorFactory* col = nullptr;
     /// make sure we can dynamic_cast this
     virtual ~SearchParameters() {}
 };
diff --git a/faiss/impl/HNSW.cpp b/faiss/impl/HNSW.cpp
index 9fc201ea39..540210a634 100644
--- a/faiss/impl/HNSW.cpp
+++ b/faiss/impl/HNSW.cpp
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 #include <faiss/impl/AuxIndexStructures.h>
 #include <faiss/impl/DistanceComputer.h>
 #include <faiss/impl/IDSelector.h>
+#include <faiss/impl/ResultCollectorFactory.h>
 #include <faiss/utils/prefetch.h>
 
 #include <faiss/impl/platform_macros.h>
@@ -530,6 +531,15 @@ int search_from_candidates(
         int level,
         int nres_in = 0,
         const SearchParametersHNSW* params = nullptr) {
+    ResultCollectorFactory defaultFactory;
+    ResultCollectorFactory* collectorFactory;
+    if (params == nullptr || params->col == nullptr) {
+        collectorFactory = &defaultFactory;
+    } else {
+        collectorFactory = params->col;
+    }
+    ResultCollector* collector = collectorFactory->newCollector();
+
     int nres = nres_in;
     int ndis = 0;
 
@@ -544,11 +554,7 @@ int search_from_candidates(
         float d = candidates.dis[i];
         FAISS_ASSERT(v1 >= 0);
         if (!sel || sel->is_member(v1)) {
-            if (nres < k) {
-                faiss::maxheap_push(++nres, D, I, d, v1);
-            } else if (d < D[0]) {
-                faiss::maxheap_replace_top(nres, D, I, d, v1);
-            }
+            collector->collect(k, nres, D, I, d, v1);
         }
         vt.set(v1);
     }
@@ -612,11 +618,7 @@ int search_from_candidates(
 
         auto add_to_heap = [&](const size_t idx, const float dis) {
             if (!sel || sel->is_member(idx)) {
-                if (nres < k) {
-                    faiss::maxheap_push(++nres, D, I, dis, idx);
-                } else if (dis < D[0]) {
-                    faiss::maxheap_replace_top(nres, D, I, dis, idx);
-                }
+                collector->collect(k, nres, D, I, dis, idx);
             }
             candidates.push(idx, dis);
         };
@@ -660,6 +662,9 @@ int search_from_candidates(
         }
     }
 
+    collector->finalize(nres, I);
+    collectorFactory->deleteCollector(collector);
+
     if (level == 0) {
         stats.n1++;
         if (candidates.size() == 0) {
diff --git a/faiss/impl/ResultCollector.h b/faiss/impl/ResultCollector.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3e4dac3426
--- /dev/null
+++ b/faiss/impl/ResultCollector.h
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include <unordered_set>
+#include <vector>
+
+#include <faiss/MetricType.h>
+#include <faiss/utils/Heap.h>
+
+/** ResultCollector is intended to define how to collect search result */
+
+namespace faiss {
+
+/** Encapsulates a set of ids to handle. */
+struct ResultCollector {
+    // For each result, collect method is called to store result
+    virtual void collect(
+            int k,
+            int& nres,
+            float* bh_val,
+            idx_t* bh_ids,
+            float val,
+            idx_t ids) = 0;
+
+    // This method is called after all result is collected
+    virtual void finalize(idx_t nres, idx_t* bh_ids) = 0;
+    virtual ~ResultCollector() {}
+};
+
+struct DefaultCollector : ResultCollector {
+    void collect(
+            int k,
+            int& nres,
+            float* bh_val,
+            idx_t* bh_ids,
+            float val,
+            idx_t ids) override {
+        if (nres < k) {
+            faiss::maxheap_push(++nres, bh_val, bh_ids, val, ids);
+        } else if (val < bh_val[0]) {
+            faiss::maxheap_replace_top(nres, bh_val, bh_ids, val, ids);
+        }
+    }
+
+    void finalize(idx_t nres, idx_t* bh_ids) override {
+        // Do nothing
+    }
+
+    ~DefaultCollector() override {}
+};
+
+} // namespace faiss
diff --git a/faiss/impl/ResultCollectorFactory.h b/faiss/impl/ResultCollectorFactory.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6a15208a09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/faiss/impl/ResultCollectorFactory.h
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Facebook, Inc. and its affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ */
+
+#pragma once
+#include <faiss/impl/ResultCollector.h>
+namespace faiss {
+
+/** ResultCollector is intended to define how to collect search result */
+struct ResultCollectorFactory {
+    DefaultCollector defaultCollector;
+
+    // For each result, collect method is called to store result
+    virtual ResultCollector* newCollector() {
+        return &defaultCollector;
+    }
+
+    virtual void deleteCollector(ResultCollector* collector) {
+        // Do nothing
+    }
+    // This method is called after all result is collected
+    virtual ~ResultCollectorFactory() {}
+};
+
+} // namespace faiss